EXCLUSIVE: Following their recent success with the comedy Pizza Movie, which held the #1 spot for a week on both Hulu and Disney+ following its SXSW premiere, American High is reuniting with co-star Peyton Elizabeth Lee on Second First Date, a new film that they’ve enlisted Matt Sacca to write.
A high-concept, R-rated comedy based on an original idea from American High founder Jeremy Garelick, Second First Date follows Nora (Lee), a romantically jaded high-schooler who unexpectedly falls for the guy of her dreams, Charlie, at an anarchic, unforgettable house party. When Charlie accidentally concusses himself and forgets their whole night together, Nora enlists the help of best friend and party animal Hailey to painstakingly recreate the same bash, beat by unhinged beat, to win him over again.
In addition to starring, Lee will produce under her Prince Hobo Productions banner, alongside Garelick and Ben Frahm (How to Train Your Dragon).
For Garelick, the project marks a full-circle moment years in the making. Its origins trace back to a “Script-to-Screen” course put on by American High at Syracuse University in the Spring of 2019, where Garelick first pitched the concept to then-senior Sacca and two of his classmates, Fallon Siegler and Daniel Walters. The trio went on to write the original draft within the program, gaining hands-on experience in professional script development, conducting extensive rewrites, and addressing studio notes.
Garelick and Frahm taught the initial American High course, helped shepherd the first draft, and continue to cultivate a strong working relationship between Syracuse University and American High. Frahm has remained closely involved with the project since its inception and still meets with Sacca weekly while teaching his “Finding the Next Great High-School Comedy” course at Syracuse.
Sacca was American High’s very first intern, and in the years since graduating, has become a cornerstone of the company’s creative pipeline. In his role at American High, he has provided feedback on thousands of scripts, expanded the company’s reach to more than 100 universities, and helped build its Academy and internship programs while mentoring hundreds of emerging writers.
“I first met Jeremy nine years ago, before American High had shot a single movie,” Sacca remembers. “He showed off a splashy sizzle reel featuring iconic John Hughes scenes—John Bender’s pumped fist in the football field, Ferris Bueller’s parade float singalong to Twist and Shout—and let the work speak for itself. Now, nearly a decade later, thanks to the gracious, creative collaboration between Peyton and Tinpo Lee, their production banner Prince Hobo, and American High, it’s time to let our work speak for itself!”
American High’s founder and CEO, Garelick, told us of Sacca, “Matt understands the tone, the audience, and the process. He’s proven he can take notes, implement feedback, and deliver an inventive, hilarious story we’re proud to share with the world. This is exactly why we built American High the way we did.”
Garelick added, “Peyton was the obvious choice for the lead — she’s funny, fearless, her comedic timing is spot on, and her producing chops made her the perfect partner alongside Ben to bring this film to life.”
Prior to Pizza Movie — a comedy following a pair of college roommates (Gaten Matarazzo, Sean Giambrone) on absurd misadventures in attempting to obtain pizza while high — Lee starred in Hulu’s horror film Carved and the Disney+ series Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. She also voiced the lead in the upcoming stop-motion feature Wildwood from Laika. Lee’s past credits include Stumptown, Shameless, Andi Mack, and Secret Society of Second Born Royals, for which she earned a Critics Choice nomination. She and her Prince Hobo Productions are repped by Gersh, Artists First, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.
Founded by multi-hyphenate filmmaker Garelick in the fall of 2017, American High is a production company specializing in provocative teen comedies that operates out of a former school in Syracuse, NY. They’ve produced 22 features to date — notable examples being Big Time Adolescence, The Binge, and Plan B — and have their own multi-platform comedy network, American High Digital, which has garnered nearly 10 million followers and over 8 billion views. Apropos for the setting they emerged out of, they also spearhead the nonprofit Academy at American High, which has trained over 1,000 students for careers in film, tech, and media. Part of that effort is American High’s Script-to-Screen, the aforementioned educational initiative intended to immerse students directly in the studio’s development pipeline.